The first session of the 24 Heures Motonautiques de Rouen took off this morning at 10.00.
Team Abu Dhabi made a solid start as reigning F1H2O World Champion Shaun Torrente grabbed the lead with 72 laps completed in front of thousands of spectators lining the banks of the River Seine, Torrente had powered Team Abu Dhabi 35 into a lead of 1:07 over Team Nollet 2 spearheaded by Konstantin Ustinov.
After his first drive Torrente told us:
The first session was actually really nice, the nicest weather we’ve ever had, the water was fast. I led for most of the session and I made the fast lap at 1:19.998 and an overall of 72 laps in 1 hour and 40 minutes which is pretty incredible. We had a small refuelling issue when we switched drivers the first time with Rashed Al Tayer so it has put us off sequence but if that’s the biggest problem we have it’s no problem at all.
After the first hour Team Hafa Racing (28) managed to gain the lead completing 42 laps, leaving Abu Dhabi’s n. 35 boat in second. Close behind in third position with 41 laps was Team Nollet powered by New Star (2).
A barrel-rolling accident forced Team Hafa (28) momentarily out of the competition, leaving Team Nollet (2) in the top spot for over 12 hours.
Further problems for Team Abu Dhabi arose during the ninth hour when Rashed Al Qemzi had to drive his DAC back because of an overheating issue. The boat was promptly fixed in order to get back in the water and continue the race.
Torrente explained:
When Rashed came in the boat was having an overheating problem, something got stuck in the cooling system which overheated the compressor. Since we had the boat here we went ahead and put on a new gear case and prepared all that we would have to stop for anyways. We did all these changes and then sent him back out.
The thrilling finale of the first session started when Team Abu Dhabi began to close in on their rivals and a sterling fight back by the team enabled the DAC to finish session one in the first position. Team Nollet 2 was forced back in the second position with Team Abu Dhabi 36 rounding up the top 3.
The second half of the 2019 edition of the 24 Hours of Rouen will resume at 07.00 hrs tomorrow morning.
Photos: Chris Davies
24 Heures Motonautiques de Rouen 2019
| Class | Race Number | Team | Boat | Driver 1 | Driver 2 | Driver 3 | Driver 4 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S2 | #35 | Team Abu Dhabi | DAC | Shaun Torrente (USA) | Rashed Al Qemzi (UAE) | Rashed Al Tayer (UAE) | Tullio Abbate (ITA) | 836 |
| S2 | #27 | B.R.T. | Baba | Alexandre Bourgeot (FRA) | Jean‐Baptiste Gouley (FRA) | Thierry Petiot (FRA) | Dominick Thomas (FRA) | 771 |
| S2 | #36 | Team Abu Dhabi | DAC | Faleh Al Mansoori (UAE) | Rashed Al Remeithi (UAE) | Majed Al Mansoori (UAE) | Mohamed Al Mehairbi (UAE) | 697 |
| S2 | #32 | Team Navikart Solidaires en Peloton | Moore | Sébastien Lemoine (FRA) | Stéphane Lemoine (FRA) | Olivier Bétin (FRA) | Philippe Tourre (FRA) | 695 |
| S2 | #1 | Team Nollet Powered by New Star | DAC | Dmitry Malkin (RUS) | Andrei Paniushkin (RUS) | Roman Vandyshev (RUS) | Dmitriy Vandyshev (RUS) | 684 |
| S2 | #4 | Somedec Racing Team | Moore | Alain Delpeuch (FRA) | Pierre Pujol (FRA) | Lionnel Appietto (FRA) | Laurent Gimenez (FRA) | 665 |
| S2 | #2 | Team Nollet Powered by New Star | DAC | Philippe Chiappe (FRA) | Nelson Morin (FRA) | Peter Morin (FRA) | Konstantin Ustinov (RUS) | 614 |
| S3 | #41 | Arion Racing | Moore | David Helluin (FRA) | Margot Lemesle (FRA) | Flavien Ducellier (FRA) | Fabrice Antoncic (FRA) | 526 |
| S3 | #87 | CMN | Burgess | Paul Palenzuela (FRA) | Guillaume Drugeon (FRA) | Jason Houisse (FRA) | 498 | |
| S3 | #99 | Team Boat 99 | Moore | Quentin Dailly (FRA) | Jérémy Brisset (FRA) | Romuald Kauffman (FRA) | 493 | |
| S3 | #69 | DEFI24H ESIGELEC | Molgaard | Thibaut Clément (FRA) | Quentin Ouagadjio (FRA) | Thomas Folkmann (FRA) | Dylan Huybant (FRA) | 438 |
| X | #50 | VSI Racing | Burgess | Alexandre Fouquet (FRA) | Adam Carly (FRA) | Michaël Dragutin (FRA) | William Lebret (FRA) Antoine Hinfray (FRA) | 418 |
| S3 | #77 | Team SV RACING | Moore | Jean‐Marc Feyt (FRA) | Philippe Grognet (FRA) | Samuel Buisson (FRA) | Arnaud Desbuissons (FRA) | 412 |
| S3 | #70 | Viking Inshore Club | Moore | Yohann Racine (FRA) | Thomas Gosselin (FRA) | Quentin Gratigny (FRA) | Arnaud Cariou (FRA) | 404 |
| S3 | #68 | Phoenix Racing Team | Baba | Claire Buquet (FRA) | Chloé Le Deunff (FRA) | Hervé Pointier (FRA) | Lubna Poulet (FRA) | 376 |
| S3 | #67 | Phoenix Racing Team | Molgaard | Richard Le Goadec (FRA) | Bernard Poulet (FRA) | Sébastien Queva (FRA) | Stéphane Sellem (FRA) | 348 |
| S2 | #28 | Team Hafa Racing | Moore | Philippe Boutrais (FRA) | Antoine Boutrais (FRA) | Aurelien Loutz (FRA) | Jean‐Baptiste Thomas (FRA) | 769 (DNF) |
| S3 | #72 | Team Magaur | Molgaard | Julien Beaucourt (FRA) | Ben Jelf (GBR) | Joris Colleret (FRA) | Antonin Ferreira (FRA) | 478 (DNF) |
| S2 | #26 | X Trem Racing | Moore | Loïc Huet (FRA) | Thomas Cleret (FRA) | Quentin Octau (FRA) | Alexis Fischer (FRA) | 362 (DNF) |
| S2 | #8 | Pegase Touax Racing Team | Moore | Christophe Boyard (FRA) | Xavier Savin (FRA) | Denis Jarnigon (FRA) | Fabrice Boulier (FRA) | 362 (DNF) |
| S3 | #42 | Team Copain Pilote | Moore | Alexandre Jean (FRA) | Florian Pierre (FRA) | Frédéric Girard (FRA) | Ludovic Morice (FRA) Rudy Revert (FRA) | 140 |
| S3 | #71 | Team Magaur | Moore | Xavier Autard (FRA) | Alexis Marchand (FRA) | Alexandre Lechevalier (FRA) | Frédéric Coulodon (FRA) | 504 (DNQ) |
| S3 | #73 | Maverick Racing | Moore | Thomas Batisse (FRA) | Adrien Durant (FRA) | Camille Broutechoux (FRA) | Maël Perrusset (FRA) | 480 (DNQ) |
